Funeral for Murder Victims from the 1972 Munich Olympics Middle Eastern Country Profiles Updated November 13, 2015. At 4:30 a.m. local time on Sept. 5, 1972, in Munich, Germany, Palestinian commandos armed with automatic rifles broke into the quarters of the Israeli team at the Olympic Village, killed two members of the team and took nine others hostage. Twenty-three hours later, the nine hostages had also been murdered. So was a German policeman. So were five of the Palestinian terrorists. The 1972 massacre is by far the worst case of violence in Olympic history since the modern games began in 1896, and one of the most notorious cases of terrorism on record. Black September The Palestinian commandos were part of the then-unknown Black September movement—a band of Palestinian militants who broke away from Fatah , the Palestinian faction that controlled the Palestine Liberation Organization . Black September militants were disaffected with what they perceived to be the PLO’s ineffective tactics against Israel.

continue reading below our video The Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics Black September’s demands in the Munich attack: the release of more than 200 Palestinian guerillas held in Israeli jails, along with the release of German Red Army members Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, held in German prison. The Palestinian terrorists knew all too well how to attack in Munich: At least one was employed in the Olympic Village and knew his way around a compound housing some 8,000 athletes. The Israeli delegation was at 31 Connolly Street, a particularly inaccessible dormitory tucked away inside a larger structure. But German security was lax to nonexistent, the Germans believing that a pacifist strategy was the more effective answer to rising terror at the time. Negotiations and Stalemate Three Israelis, Yossef Gutfreund, a wrestling referee, Moshe Weinberg, a wrestling coach, and Yossef Romano, a weightlifter who’d fought in the Six Day War, used their considerable size and skill initially to fight and confuse the terrorists, allowing some members of the Israeli team to escape capture. Romano and Weinberg were the terrorists’ first murder victims.

Negotiations began later the morning of Sept. 5 as the Palestinians held nine Israelis in their quarters. The negotiations were mostly fruitless. The West German military provided three helicopters for the Palestinian commandos to transport the hostages to the airport, where a jet was prepared for a flight to Cairo, Egypt. The plane was a subterfuge: Egypt had told the German government it would not permit it to land on Egyptian soil. Bungled Rescue Attempt and Murder Once at the airport, some 20 hours after the ordeal had begun, two of the terrorists walked from the helicopters to the plane and back, presumably to pick up the hostages. At that point, German snipers opened fire. The Palestinians returned fire. A bloodbath ensued. The Germans had planned their rescue attempt shoddily, using five sharp-shooters, one of whom admitted later to have been unqualified. German police drafted to support the sharpshooters abandoned the mission halfway through. The Israeli hostages were bound hand and foot in two helicopters. They were killed—by a grenade thrown by a terrorist and ensuing fire in one helicopter, by strafing, point-blank rifle shots in the other.

Five Palestinians were killed: Afif, Nazzal, Chic Thaa, Hamid and Jawad Luttif Afif, known as Issa, who had two brothers in Israeli jails, Yusuf Nazzal, known as Tony, Afif Ahmed Hamid, known as Paolo, Khalid Jawad, and Ahmed Chic Thaa, or Abu Halla. Their bodies were returned to heroes’ funerals in Libya, whose leader, Muammar Qaddafi, was an enthusiastic supporter and financier of Palestinian terrorism. The three remaining hostage-takers, Mohammed Safady, Adnan Al-Gashey, and Jamal Al-Gashey, were held by German authorities until late October, 1972, when they were released in compliance with demands by Palestinian hijackers of a Lufthansa jet. Various documentaries and written accounts argue that the hijacking was a sham enabling German authorities to end their involvement in the Black September chapter. The Games “Must Go On” The German government and police’s actions were not the only embarrassing or repugnant responses to the terrorist attack. Five hours after learning of the attack, Avery Brundage, the president of the International Olympic Committee, declared that the games would go on.

As two Israelis lay dead and nine Israeli hostages were fighting for their lives in the Olympic Village, competition went on in 11 of the 22 sports on the program, including canoeing and wrestling. “Anyway,” went a dark joke coursing through the Village, “these are professional killers. Avery doesn’t recognize them.” It would not be until 4 p.m. that Brundage reversed his decision. A memorial service for the Israelis was held at 10 a.m. on Sept. 6 in the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium. Munich Massacre Munich Massacre 1970 - 1979 Munich Massacre One of the eight Palestinian terrorists comprising the Black September group stands on a balcony of the Olympic Village during a standoff after they kidnapped nine members of the Israeli Olympic team and killed two others on Sept. 5, 1972 in Munich. (Getty Images/Stringer) Updated January 21, 2016. What Was the Munich Massacre? The Munich Massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic Games. Eight Palestinian terrorists killed two members of Israeli Olympic team and then took nine others hostage.

The situation was ended by a huge gunfight that left five of the terrorists and all of the nine hostages dead. Following the massacre, the Israeli government organized a retaliation against Black September, called Operation Wrath of God. Dates: September 5, 1972 Also Known As: 1972 Olympics Massacre Stressful Olympics The XXth Olympic Games were held in Munich, Germany in 1972. Tensions were high at these Olympics, because they were the first Olympic Games held in Germany since the Nazis hosted the Games in 1936 . The Israeli athletes and their trainers were especially nervous; many had family members who had been murdered during the Holocaust or were themselves Holocaust survivors. The Attack The first few days of the Olympic Games went smoothly. continue reading below our video The Massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics On September 4, the Israeli team spent the evening out to see the play, Fiddler on the Roof, and then went back to the Olympic Village to sleep. A little after 4 a.m. on September 5, as the Israeli athletes slept, eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September, jumped over the six-foot high fence that encircled the Olympic Village.

The terrorists headed straight for 31 Connollystrasse, the building where the Israeli contingent was staying. Around 4:30 a.m., the terrorists entered the building. They rounded up the occupants of apartment 1 and then apartment 3. Several of the Israelis fought back; two of them were killed. A couple of others were able to escape out windows. Nine were taken hostage. Standoff at the Apartment Building By 5:10 a.m., the police had been alerted and news of the attack had begun to spread around the world. The terrorists then dropped a list of their demands out the window; they wanted 234 prisoners released from Israeli prisons and two from German prisons by 9 a.m. Negotiators were able to extend the deadline to noon, then 1 p.m., then 3 p.m., then 5 p.m.; however, the terrorists refused to back down on their demands and Israel refused to release the prisoners. A confrontation became inevitable. At 5 p.m., the terrorists realized that their demands were not going to be met. They asked for two planes to fly both the terrorists and the hostages to Cairo, Egypt, hoping a new locale would help get their demands met.

The German officials agreed, but realized that they could not let the terrorists leave Germany. Desperate to end the standoff, the Germans organized Operation Sunshine, which was a plan to storm the apartment building. The terrorists discovered the plan by watching television. The Germans then planned to attack the terrorists on their way to the airport, but again the terrorists found out their plans. Massacre at the Airport Around 10:30 p.m., the terrorists and hostages were transported to the Fürstenfeldbruck airport by helicopter. The Germans had decided to confront the terrorists at the airport and had snipers waiting for them. Once on the ground, the terrorists realized there was a trap. Snipers started shooting at them and they shot back. Two terrorists and one policeman were killed. Then a stalemate developed. The Germans requested armored cars and waited for over an hour for them to arrive. When the armored cars arrived, the terrorists knew the end had come. One of the terrorists jumped into a helicopter and shot four of the hostages, then threw in a grenade. Another terrorist hopped into the other helicopter and used his machine gun to kill the remaining five hostages. The snipers and armored cars killed three more terrorists in this second round of gunfire.

Three terrorists survived the attack and were taken into custody. Less than two months later, the three remaining terrorists were released by the German government after two other Black September members hijacked a plane and threatened to blow it up unless the three were released. Israeli 1972 Olympic Team Murdered in Munich Israeli 1972 Olympic Team Murdered in Munich Israeli 1972 Olympic Team Murdered in Munich Who murdered the athletes of the Israeli 1972 Olympic Team in Munich? A closer look at the history of Israel-Palestine conflict reveals that both the parties have done horrendous acts of terror in order to achieve their political and military goals. On September 5, 1972, five Palestinian Arabs entered the Olympic Village in Munich, Germany and were joined by three others who had gained access to the village through some means. In the 24 hours that followed, a German policeman and eleven Israelis were killed along with five Arabs. The attackers made nine Israelis hostage and demanded the release of 234 Arab prisoners from Israeli jails and two Arabs imprisoned in Frankfurt. Their demands also included giving them a safe passage out of Germany.

The negotiations went on for hours between the German authorities and the Arabs after which a deal was made. The Arabs were taken to the NATO air base in Firstenfeldbruck by bus. Two helicopters were arranged there to take them to the plane which was scheduled to leave for Cairo. However, the deal was a part of rescue operation as German sharpshooters were positioned on the air base with orders to shoot the kidnappers without targeting the hostages. In what turned out to be the most dramatic and shocking act of violence, all of hostages in two helicopters were shot down in an exchange of fire between Arabs and the Germans. German police captured three of the attackers and held them in Germany. These attackers were later released when the Palestinians hijacked a Lufthansa jet on October 29 and demanded the release of prisoners of Munich incident. The attack on the Olympic Village is said to be carried out by Fatah on the orders of PLO’s leader, Yasser Arafat . However, it was later revealed that the attackers actually belonged to a group called Black September which was a faction working independently from PLO.

This extremist group was of the view that PLO is not working fast enough to liberate Palestine, so it was showing off its image as a part of PLO only to damage its international standing and political interests. Israel retaliated to this incident on a more massive level. Only three days later, Israel launched an air strike with a launch of around 75 aircraft, the largest one since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Moreover, fighter bombers targeted Palestinians guerrilla members in Syria and Lebanon which killed nearly 66 while many other were badly injured. Besides this, three Syrian planes were also destroyed over the Golan Heights. All this action was called upon by the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir who gave the instructions to kill the Palestinians who were involved in the Munich attack. These operations were called Operation Wrath of God and Operation Spring of Youth where the suspected Palestinians were spotted and killed by Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, but historians object that it mainly picked innocent civilians to unleash a new wave on terror in Palestine.

29 thoughts on “Israeli 1972 Olympic Team Murdered in Munich” Ayan says: Officials Ignored Warnings of Munich Olympics Massacre - SPIEGEL ONLINE Officials Ignored Warnings of Munich Olympics Massacre Munich Olympics Massacre Officials Ignored Warnings of Terrorist Attack Explicit warnings that a terrorist attack might take place at the 1972 Munich Olympics were ignored by German officials, according to previously classified documents seen by SPIEGEL. The new details also reveal efforts to cover up the extent of their failure to stop the brutal murders of Israeli athletes. DPA A burned-out helicopter after the deadly attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics. July 23, 2012 12:20 PM Feedback It is no secret that the German authorities' handling of the massacre of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics was characterized by bumbling and cover-ups . But new documents seen by SPIEGEL reveal that officials concealed even more -- and more blatant -- errors than previously thought. Indeed, there were even several warnings prior to the Games that an attack was imminent.

Previously classified documents from investigative officials, embassy dispatches, and cabinet protocols released to SPIEGEL by the Chancellery, Foreign Office and state and federal intelligence agencies have revealed the lengths to which officials went to hide their mistakes. In the attack on Sept. 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists killed 11 members of Israel's Olympic delegation, along with one German police officer. Five of the eight terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist group called "Black September" were also killed during the botched rescue attempt by German police at the Fürstenfeldbruck military airport, where the hostages were being held in two helicopters. 'No Self-Criticism' Already on Sept. 7, just one day after the memorial ceremony for the victims took place in Munich's Olympic Stadium, a Foreign Ministry official told a special sitting of the federal cabinet what would ultimately become the maxim for both Bavarian and West German officials. "Mutual incriminations must be avoided," a protocol for the meeting reads.

"Also, no self-criticism." Just how closely this advice was followed can be seen in documentation from both the federal government and the Bavarian state government, which falsely described the "precision" with which the terrorists carried out their attack. In reality, officials knew that the "Black September" members were actually so poorly prepared that they even had trouble finding hotel rooms in Munich before their attack. On the day of the attack, the Palestinians were even known to have gone right past the Israelis' apartments in the Olympic village, encountering athletes from Hong Kong on an upper level of the building instead. An "analytic evaluation" of the attack by the Munich criminal police later explicitly determined that the terrorists had "conducted no precise reconnaissance" ahead of time. But none of these details were revealed to the public. The fact that Bavarian state prosecutors in Munich were pursuing an investigation against police president Manfred Schreiber and his chief of operation on suspicion of negligent manslaughter also wasn't mentioned in the document. Clear Warnings Concrete warnings of a potential attack also went unmentioned, despite the fact that they were so clear that their dismissal remains difficult to comprehend. On Aug.

14, 1972, a German embassy officer in Beirut heard that "an incident would be staged by from the Palestinian side during the Olympic Games in Munich." Four days later, the Foreign Office forwarded the warning to the state intelligence agency in Bavaria, along with the recommendation to "take all possible available security measures" against such an attack. Security agencies didn't even register warnings that appeared in the press. On Sept. 2, three days ahead of the deadly hostage-taking, the Italian publication Gente wrote that terrorists from Black September were planning a "sensational act during the Olympic Games." Only later -- two days after the bloodbath in Munich -- was the warning put on record through a tip-off from the Hamburg criminal police. Responsible officials seem to have attempted to erase any evidence of their failures to prevent the attack, the documents show. A few days afterwards, a chief police commissioner seized information concerning 26 potential crisis scenarios for the Munich Olympics, which had been prepared by a police psychologist to aid in preparing a security concept for the games. One of the scenarios involved an attack by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympic village.

When the Bavarian state intelligence agency inquired after the materials, police officials acknowledged that they had been created and discussed during preparatory seminars ahead of the Olympics, but indicated that a written record was "not available." The documents are still missing today. kla/SPIEGEL Munich Olympics Massacre - Black September Organization - Palestinian Hijackings FBI - CIA - Department of State - Department of Defense Files, and White House Recordings Palestinian Hijackings FBI - CIA - Department of State - Department of Defense Files, and White House Recordings 536 pages of CIA, State Department, Defense Department, FBI Files, and three hour-thirty-six minutes of White House recordings related to the Munich Olympic Massacre, Black September Organization, and Palestinian Hijackings archived on CD-ROM. The modern age of terrorism was ushered in by the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. At approximately 4:00 AM on September 5, 1972, Palestinian gunmen entered the complex containing the Olympic Village apartments. The gunmen made their way to apartment one and inserted a passkey. After successfully entering the apartment they captured five Israeli athletes.

The terrorists expanded their search throughout the complex, capturing six additional athletes in apartment number three. By approximately 5:00 AM, the terrorists had killed two Israeli team members and captured nine. Due to an unanticipated battle and chaos, the terrorists failed to locate eight additional team members in apartments two, four, and five. Two other Israeli athletes in apartment one escaped and made their way to safety. The Palestinian off-shoot group, the Black September Organization, claimed responsibility for the actions at the Village Apartments. The terrorists demanded the release and safe passage to Egypt of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel, and an additional two German terrorists in German prisons. The Black September Group requested a jet to transport them to Cairo where the prisoners demanded for release by Israel would meet them. The German police determined that in order to conduct a successful hostage rescue, they had to confine the terrorists to Germany. To initiate a rescue, they decided the best option was to isolate the terrorists at Germany's Furstenfeldbruck Airport. Once at the airfield, West German snipers would attempt a hostage rescue operation. It was only after the arrival at the airport that the West German Police realized there were eight terrorists, not the five originally estimated.

Considering the early estimate of five terrorists, the police deployed only five German snipers at Furstenfeldbruck airport to initiate the rescue. The German police placed a dummy Lufthansa Boeing 727 at Furstenfeldbruck airport, located approximately fifteen miles from the center of Munich. Eight police officers deployed around the jet dressed as flight attendants and crew members. These police officers were without radio contact with the command post or other police units. As the terrorists moved a 'safe' distance from the hostages, the police snipers were ordered to open fire. Their initial rounds went off-target and a full gun battle ensued. The Israeli captives were still sitting bound in the helicopters which had transported them to the airfield. The initial firefight between the fedayeen and police lasted approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. The German Police decided to initiate an 'infantry' attack to move the terrorists from the vicinity of the helicopters. As the attack began, one fedayeen tossed a grenade into one of the helicopters holding five of the Israeli athletes. The helicopter exploded, killing all five athletes. Shortly thereafter, another fedayeen member entered the second helicopter, shot, and killed the last four hostages.

Three of the surviving kidnappers lay on the ground and were captured by police. Jamal Al-Gashey had been shot through his right wrist, and Mohammed Safady had sustained a flesh wound to his leg. Adnan Al-Gashey had escaped injury completely. Yusuf Nazzal, the final kidnapper, had escaped the scene, but was tracked down using dogs and tear gas 40 minutes later, and was shot dead after a brief gunfight. Palestinian guerrilla group, The Black September Organization (BSO), claimed responsibility for the killing of the eleven Israelis in Munich. The Fatah originated in 1957 and boasted an estimated membership of over 11,000 by the late 1980's. The United States Department of State's 1988 publication of Terrorist Group Profiles, describes the Fatah as the military arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Fatah is an acronym spelled backwards representing Harakat al-Tahrir al Filistini. The phrase translates as Palestine Liberation Movement. Former Fatah leader Yasir Arafat (Abu Ammar) assumed leadership of the PLO in 1969.

The Fatah utilized the name Black September Organization from approximately 1971 to 1974. On October 29, a German Lufthansa jet was hijacked and demands were made for the release of the three Black September members being held for trial. Safady and the Al-Gasheys were immediately released by Germany and flown to Libya. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and the Israeli Defense Committee made a decision, secretly authorizing the Mossad to track down and assassinate those responsible for the Munich massacre. CIA FILES 117 Pages of CIA files related to the Munich Olympic Massacre. Files are composed of Central Intelligence Bulletins and Weekly Terrorism Reviews dating from September 6, 1972 to December 3, 1984. Includes 57 pages of CIA briefings for the two months after the attack addressing: CIA assessment of Israel's likely response. Effect on West Germany's self-esteem and its upcoming elections. Response of Arab states to the murders. Information about Israeli strikes against Fadayeen installations. Israeli actions in Lebanon and the Lebanese response. DEFENSE DEPT.

FILES Countering Terrorism: The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre and the Development of Independent Covert Action Teams. A 48 page study published by the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1995. The purpose of this study was to examine the methodology of the covert action teams authorized by Prime Minister Golda Meir to find and assassinate those individuals responsible for the attack on the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in September 1972. Specifically, the study addresses whether the operational and tactical methods utilized in this counterterrorist effort were successful relative to the original operational objectives. In 1972, the Israeli Mossad initiated one of the most ambitious covert counterterrorist campaigns in history. Golda Meir and the Israeli cabinet's top secret 'Committee-X' devised a campaign in retaliation for the massacre of eleven Israeli's during the Munich Olympic Games, broadly referred to as Operation Wrath of God or Mitzvah Elohim. Black September's (BSO) assault on the Olympic Village apartments on September 5, 1972, set in motion a chain of events unparalleled in the history of terrorism and antiterrorism tactics.

The report contains an extensive overview of the Munich Massacre. The study contains two case studies. The first case examines the details of the attempted assassination of Ali Hassan Salameh in Lillehammer on July 21, 1973. This operation resulted in the death of a Moroccan man misidentified as Ali Hassan Salameh and the exposure of seven Israeli officers in a highly publicized media event. On January 22, 1979, the Mossad found and killed Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut using a remote-controlled car bomb. The second case examines an independent team organized by senior Mossad operations officer Mike Harari, referred to as Avner's team. The pseudonym "Avner" represents the unit team leader selected by Harari. Mossad Chief Zwi Zamir provided the group with the identities of eleven top targets for assassination. Avner's unit consisted of five highly trained individuals with varied specialties. Each officer had some second and third language proficiencies. The different specialties included: devising alias documents, stealing vehicles, improvised explosive devices (IED), small arms, electronics, business, banking, and operational security. The premise of the unit was total flexibility.

Although each officer had specialized skills, each team member could essentially perform any task. To sever any official ties with the Israeli Government, Avner's team resigned from their positions in the Mossad. With no formal contractual agreements, the resignations effectively terminated any further paper trails. The unit's goal was to operate until the successful completion of the mission or until death or injuries rendered it inoperable. The report includes names and backgrounds of the targets on Mossad's hit list. A chart shows the 11 targets, whether they were hard or soft targets, the team assigned to assassinate, the date, location, and method for the hit, whether the hit was successful, if any members of the team was arrested, and collateral damage during the operation. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DOCUMENTS 324 pages of Department of State documents, dating from 1969 to 1972, covering the Munich Olympic Massacre, the actions of the United States after the massacre, material dealing with hijackings performed by Palestinians in the years prior to Munich, with Black September Organization connections.

Highlights among the documents include: Memo from NSC Staff member Hoskinson to Henry Kissinger reporting on the Israeli hostage situation in Munich and commenting that the Department of State was at a loss over how to apply pressure on the terrorists. A National Security Council memo shows that President Nixon discouraged Israeli retaliation. A memo from Secretary of State Rogers, informing President Nixon of the anti-terrorism initiatives he planned to take after the Munich Olympics Massacre. A telegram details a September 8, 1972, conversation with Israeli Ambassador Rabin on how to respond to the Munich incident. Memos give responses to the 1969 Israeli attack on Khaldeh Airport in Beirut Lebanon. Memos show Israel holding fast to its policies on dealing with terrorism, during hijacking incidents of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Memos chronicle the international reaction to the Dawson's Field hijacking of September 6, 1970, when four different jet aircraft bound from Europe to New York City, El Al Flight 219, Pan American Flight 93, TWA Flight 741, and Swissair Flight 100, were hijacked by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members.

Two of the four flights landed at a remote desert airstrip in Jordan called Dawson's Field. El Al security officers on El Al Flight 219 shot and killed one of the two hijackers and captured the other, Leila Khaled. The plane landed at Heathrow airport in London and Leila Khaled was taken into custody. Pan American Flight 93 was a Boeing 747 and was determined to be too large to land at Dawson. It was flown to Cairo, emptied of its passengers and blown-up. The next day a fifth plane, BOAC flight 775, was hijacked by unrelated sympathizers during its flight from Bahrain to Beirut, and brought to Dawson's Field. The passengers were taken off the planes and all three planes were blown-up. All the hostages were released in exchange for the release of Leila Khaled and three PFLP members jailed in Switzerland. The Jordanian government's outrage over the incidents triggered the "Black September" Palestinian conflict in Jordan. NIXON TAPES 3 Hours 36 Minutes of President Richard Nixon White House recordings. Each tape has a log of the conversations.

Mention is made of the Munich Olympic Massacre during the course of these nine different conversations, taking place between September 6, 1972 and September 8, 1972. Participating in conversation with President Richard Nixon are Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State William P. Rogers, H.R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman. Points of conversation include: Israeli response to the Olympic murders. Kissinger's views of the events. Effect on the U.S. presidential election. Yitzhak Rabin's attitude concerning the events. Whether the Olympic Games should be canceled. Possible U.S. actions. President Nixon's conversations with Yitzhak Rabin. Fear that Israel would enter Lebanon. Prime Minister Meir's previous agreement on Beirut. The effect of the incident on Kissinger's secret trips to the Vietnam War peace talks in Paris. Israeli request for the U.S. to support cancellation of the Munich Games. Possible loss of Jewish votes if a misstep is made. Mark Spitz. The athletes' funerals in Israel. The politics of the Munich incident.

FBI Files 47 pages of FBI files concerning a discredited tip that the Black September Organization planned on blowing-up a U.S. plane to coincide with the closing of the Munich Olympics and a discredited alleged threat by BSO against President Nixon in November, 1972. Targeted Killings: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Counterterrorism Policy In addition to the 536 pages of material above, included on the disc is a 46 page report published in 2005 by the Bank of Israel, "Targeted Killings: Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Counterterrorism Policy," which mentions the Munich Olympic retributions. The disc contains a text transcript of all recognizable text embedded into the graphic image of each page of each document, creating a searchable finding aid. Text searches can be done across all files on the disc. French Jews protest Cannes screening of Palestinian film about 1972 Munich massacre — RT News Fake ‘ISIS pirate raid’ stunt freaks out Cannes film festival guests (VIDEO) An excerpt from the documentary is due to be screened as part of a partnership between the Cannes Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival.

The film, directed by journalist-turned-director Nasri Hajjaj, is still reportedly in production. Roger Cukierman, president of the Council of Jewish Organisations in France (CRIF), expressed “anxiety and deep concern” over the planned viewing in a letter to Cannes Film Festival President Pierre Lescure and French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay. The film “depicts the terrorists as ‘freedom fighters’ and says that ‘everything came to an end when German security forces intervened, killing 5 Palestinians and 11 Israeli athletes.’ It’s a scandalous misinterpretation of historic facts,” Cukierman said . Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team, including athletes, coaches, and a referee, were killed in an attack by Palestinian gunmen during the 20th Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, bringing the Games to a halt. On September 5, eight gunmen from a splinter group of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) called Black September raided the Israeli team’s quarters in the Olympic village in Germany. They first killed an Israeli weightlifter and a wrestling coach, and then took nine others hostage and demanded the release of 236 prisoners held in Israel.

Background & Overview: Munich Olympic Massacre | Jewish Virtual Library Munich Olympic Massacre: Tweet It was 4:30 in the morning on Sept. 5, 1972, when five Palestinian terrorists wearing track sweat suits climbed the six-foot six-inch fence surrounding the Olympic Village. Although they were seen by several people, no one thought anything was unusual since athletes routinely hopped the fence; moreover, the terrorists' weapons were hidden in athletic bags. These five were met by three more men who are presumed to have obtained credentials to enter the village. The Palestinians then used stolen keys to enter two apartments being used by the Israeli team at 31 Connollystraße. Israeli wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund heard a faint scratching noise at the door of the first apartment. When he investigated, he saw the door begin to open and masked men with guns on the other side. He shouted “Hevre tistalku!” ( Hebrew : "Guys, get out of here!") and threw his nearly 300-lb. (135-kg) weight against the door to try to stop the Palestinians from forcing their way in. In the confusion, coach Tuvia Sokolovsky and race-walker Dr.

Shaul Ladany escaped and another four athletes, plus the two team doctors and delegation head Shmuel Lalkin, managed to hide. Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, attacked the kidnappers as the hostages were being moved from one apartment to another, allowing one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari, to escape. The burly Weinberg knocked one of the intruders unconscious and stabbed another with a fruit knife before being shot to death. Weightlifter and father of three Yossef Romano, 31, also attacked and wounded one of the intruders before being killed. The Arabs then succeeded in rounding up nine Israelis to hold as hostages. At 9:30, the terrorists announced that they were Palestinians and demanded that Israel release 200 Arab prisoners and that the terrorists be given safe passage out of Germany.

The Palestinians were led by Luttif Afif (“Issa”), his deputy Yusuf Nazzal (“Tony”), and junior members Afif Ahmed Hamid (“Paolo”), Khalid Jawad (“Salah”), Ahmed Chic Thaa (“Abu Halla”), Mohammed Safady (“Badran”), Adnan Al-Gashey (“Denawi”), and his cousin Jamal Al-Gashey (“Samir”). (Top, L-R): Moshe Weinberg; Yossef Romano; Yossef Gutfreund; David Berger (Second Row): Yacov Springer; Ze'ev Friedman; Amitzur Shapira; Eliezer Halfin (Third Row): Mark Slavin; Andre Spitzer; Kehat Shorr After hours of tense negotiations, the Palestinians, who it was later learned belonged to a PLO faction called Black September, agreed to a plan whereby they were to be taken by helicopter to the NATO air base at Firstenfeldbruck where they would be given an airplane to fly them and their hostages to Cairo. The Israelis were then taken by bus to the helicopters and flown to the airfield.

In the course of the transfer, the Germans discovered that there were eight terrorists instead of the five they expected and realized that they had not assigned enough marksmen to carry out the plan to kill the terrorists at the airport. After the helicopters landed at the air base around 10:30 p.m., the German sharpshooters attempted to kill the terrorists and a bloody firefight ensued. At 11, the media was mistakenly informed that the hostages had been saved and the news was announced to a relieved Israeli public. Almost an hour later, however, new fighting broke out and one of the helicopters holding the Israelis was blown up by a terrorist grenade. The remaining nine hostages in the second helicopter were shot to death by one of the surviving terrorists. At 3 a.m., a drawn and teary-eyed Jim McKay, who had been reporting the drama throughout the day as part of ABC's Olympic coverage, announced: “They're all gone.” In July 2012, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Germany had in fact been warned about the possibility of a Palestinian terrorist attack at the Games but took no actions to secure the Olympic Village. Five of the terrorists were killed along with one policeman, and three were captured.

A little over a month later, on Oct. 29, a Lufthansa jet was hijacked by terrorists demanding that the Munich killers be released. The destroyed helicopters on the runway in Munich The Germans capitulated and the terrorists were let go, but an Israeli assassination squad was assigned to track them down along with those responsible for planning the massacre. According to George Jonas in Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team , eight of the 11 men targeted for death were killed. Of the remaining three, one died of natural causes and the other two were assassinated, but it is not known for sure if they were killed by Israeli agents. The elevent terrorists on the list were: - Kamal Adwan: Chief of sabotage operations for Al Fatah in the disputed territories - Hussein Abad Al-Chir: PLO contact with KGB in Cyprus - Mohammed Boudia: Linked with European PLO - Abu Daoud: Admitted member of the Black September Organization - Dr. Wadi Haddad: Chief terrorist linked with Dr.

George Habash - Mohmoud Mahshari: PLO member and coordinator of Munich incident - Kamal Nassir: Official PLO spokesman and member of the PLO Executive Committee - Dr. Basil Paoud Al-Kubaisi: Responsible for logistics within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) The Jonas book was the basis for two movies about Munich, “The Sword of Gideon ” and Steven Spielberg's 2006 Oscar nominee, “Munich.” In the subsequent publicity about Spielberg's film, reports have discredited the account in Jonas, which was largely based on what the author was told by a former self-described Mossad agent, Juval Aviv, who claimed he was the leader of the assassination team. In fact, journalists Yossi Melman and Steven Hartov found that “Aviv never served in Mossad, or any Israeli intelligence organization.

He had failed basic training as an Israeli Defence Force commando, and his nearest approximation to spy work was as a lowly gate guard for the airline El Al in New York in the early 70s.” In contrast to the account of “Operation Wrath of God” offered by Jonas, Mossad agents have told reporters subsequently that no one team was sent to kill a specific list of terrorists. Meanwhile, the mastermind of the massacre remained at large. Abu Daoud was shot thirteen times on July 27, 1981 in a Warsaw hotel coffee shop, but survived the attack. Daoud was allowed safe passage through Israel in 1996 so he could go to a PLO meeting convened in the Gaza Strip to rescind an article in its charter that called for Israel's eradication. In 1999, Abu Daoud admitted his role in the massacre in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist . Daoud, who lived with his wife on a pension provided by the Palestinian Authority , claimed his commandos never intended to harm the athletes and blamed their deaths on the German police and the stubbornness of then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir .

On December 27, 2005, Daoud reiterated that he had no regrets about his involvement in the Munich attack, and that Steven Spielberg's new film about the incident would not deliver reconciliation. Daoud died of kidney failure at age 73 on July 3, 2010, in Damascus. Bassam Abu Sharif, a member of the PFLP at the time, said the motive for the operation in Munich was to attract publicity for the Palestinian cause and to win the release of Palestinian prisoners. The massacre of 11 Israeli athletes was not considered sufficiently serious to merit canceling or postponing the Olympics. “Incredibly, they're going on with it,” Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time. “It's almost like having a dance at Dachau .” On December 1, 2015, new information about the Munich massacre was released to the public for the first time via an article in the New York Times. The article shed light on long-hidden details from that day, and included interviews with Ilana Romano and Ankie Spitzer, who were both widowed following the attack.

Among the most horrific new details revealed was that Yossef Romano, Ilana Romano's husband, was beaten and brutally castrated by the terrorists while the Israelis were being held hostage. Most of these specific and gory details about the tragedy were not revealed to the victims families until September 1992, when the German government released hundreds of pages of reports on the attack and photographs of the crime scenes that they had previously claimed did not exist. Ilana Romano and Ankie Spitzer attended a memorial ceremony in their husband's honor on August 3, 2016, in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games. The ceremony, led by the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, was followed by one minute of silence in the Olympic village to honor the murdered Israeli athletes. In addition to the remembrance ceremony, the IOC inaugurated a new tradition in honor of the athletes; a place of mourning to be established at every future olympics in the olympic village. Ankie Spitzer told reporters that, “This is closure for us. This is incredibly important.

We waited 44 years to have this remembrance.” Ynetnews News - Germany cooperated with Black September after Munich Massacre comment Germany cooperated with Black September after Munich Massacre Der Spiegel reveals that German authorities held secret talks with Palestinian terror organization fearing additional attacks on German soil after murder of 11 Israeli athletes Ynet|Published: 26.08.12 , 18:22 German newspaper Der Spiegel revealed Sunday that German authorities cooperated with Black September , a Palestinian terror group, after it had carried out an attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Germany , it was reported, did so for fear of additional attacks on its soil. Israel marks 40th anniversary of Munich massacre According to the report, the German government held secret contacts with the planners of the Munich Massacre. Several months after the attack, Germany's then foreign minister, Walter Scheel, met secretly with several Black September members to "rebuild trust." Berlin demanded that the terror group not carry out any more terrorist attacks on German soil. The Palestinians, on their part, demanded Berlin's support of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

1972 Munich Olympic Games (Photo: Getty Images) According to Der Spiegel, Germany suspended its criminal investigation against the massacre's perpetrators as the talks progressed. Several weeks later, the deputy foreign minister announced that the investigation had been concluded. In 1977, French police asked Germany whether it wanted it to extradite Abu Daoud, one of the planners of the attack, but Germany decided not to answer the question. The Munich Massacre was one of the first international terrorist attacks against Israeli targets of the 1970s. Ilana Romano, wife of Israeli athlete Yossef Romano who was killed in the attack, said in response, "I am not surprised, this isn't new. We've known about this for a long time. "It's sad that what we've been saying for years has only now been put forward. I thank Der Spiegel of publishing this information.

Better late than never." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop German neo-Nazis helped Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israeli athletes in 1972 Munich Massacre, intelligence files reveal | Daily Mail Online German neo-Nazis helped Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israeli athletes in 1972 Munich Massacre, intelligence files reveal Mastermind Abu Daoud was driven round Germany by neo-Nazi Willi Pohl Pohl also helped terrorists procure fake passports and other documents Dortmund police told German intelligence agency but they did not act Weeks later terrorists stormed Olympic village and held Israelis hostage Two were killed by Palestinians and the rest died in botched rescue mission comments German neo-Nazis helped Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, newly released intelligence files reveal. Abu Daoud, who is believed to the mastermind of the atrocity, met fascist Willi Pohl in Dortmund, according to a city police dossier kept secret for 40 years. But despite the file being passed on to the German federal intelligence agency, Verfassungsschutz, there is no evidence that they acted upon the 2,000-page report.

Chilling: One of the terrorists wearing a ski mask on the balcony outside the Israeli contingent's apartment Tragic: A combination photograph shows the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches who were killed in Munich And this lack of action allowed Daoud, who is named in the police report as his alias Saad Walli, to travel the country to meet fellow terrorists and plan the attack. Pohl, who is now a crime fiction author, told magazine Der Spiegel: ‘I chauffeured Abu Daoud through the entire Federal Republic where he met in different cities with Palestinians.’ The 68-year-old, who insists he had no idea the group were planning the attack, claims he unwittingly also helped Daoud obtain false passports and other documents. Helped by fascists: Mastermind Abu Daoud was driven around the country by Willi Pohl, who also helped procure false documents, intelligence files reveal But Pohl allegedly later bragged to his employer about his contact with the extremist wing of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, according to the report. Pohl, who spoke on the condition that he was not photographed, was later asked by the PLO's leadership to carry out vengeance attacks for the police killings of five militants, the files say.

Several possible attacks were considered, including a hostage-taking at the cathedral in Cologne, it was claimed. But he was arrested in Munich in October 1972 and later jailed for two years for possession of illegal weapons. Police found he had hand grenades, firearms and a threatening letter from Black September addressed to a judge who was preparing to bring charges against Palestinians involved in the Munich massacre. The documents also suggested Pohl helped to procure weapons that may have been used in the atrocity itself. Black September had used the same sort of grenades - made in Belgium from Swedish explosives - to kill the Israeli hostages, the files show. Daoud, whose real name was Mohammed Daoud Odeh, died in July 2010 aged 73. He claimed responsibility for the attack in his book Palestine, from Jerusalem to Munich, published in 1999. He defended the act as a military operation against athletes who were military reservists. Blood and bullet holes cover the floor and walls where one of the two Israeli killed in their apartment was murdered Failure: Armed police drop into position on a terrace directly above the apartments.

But they did not try and rescue the hostages Defeat: The burned wreckage of the helicopter in which nine Israelis held hostage were killed after a botched rescue mission It began on the morning of September 5, 1972, with six days left in the Games, when eight terrorists stormed the Olympic village and raided the Israeli contingent’s apartment. Two Israeli athletes were killed and nine more were seized as hostages. They demanded the release of over 200 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails, along with two renowned German terrorists. After a day of unsuccessful negotiations, the terrorists collected the hostages and headed for the military airport in Munich for a flight back to the Middle East. At the airport, German sharpshooters opened fire, killing three of the Palestinians . Thugs: Neo-Nazis marching on German streets A horrifying gun battle ensued, claiming the lives of all nine of the hostages and two terrorists on board a helicopter. The three surviving assassins were captured, but later released by West Germany following the hijacking a Lufthansa airliner by Black September.

Question: Which Palestinian organisation murdered 11 Israelis at the 1972 Olympics?
Answer: Black September